As I mentioned in last weeks post I ended up at a Christian facility that housed men with life controlling issues like drugs and alcohol, Transformation Life Center (TLC). My decision to go get help was based on getting rid of this vicious cycle of cocaine addiction, not to study the Bible. I had been to about 4 different 30 day programs before therefore I had an idea of what to expect. But I was so wrong, I was so way of base, little did I understand the power of God.

After being at TLC for 1 month I finally opened up the Bible for the first time in my life to Psalm 40 and started reading, let me say this, 12 years later and I still can not open up the Bible EXACLTY to Psalm 40! God speaks to us in mysterious ways and through His word is one of them. I can not put into words what I am trying to explain, all I know is that everyone one has potential to experience what I have experienced. Like I said I opened up the Bible for the first time and I came to Psalm 40. I read:

¹I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me and heard my cry. ² He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry
clay

(I saw my past). I thought of that prayer I offered up in faith that afternoon in the back of the restaurant in November. I thought “he did hear my cry!” I thought of that pit I was stuck in, that vicious cycle of cocaine addiction and how with that prayer how God lifted me up from that self destructive pattern.

And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.

(I saw my present). I thought how God answered my prayer by providingTransformationLifeCenterfor me, that rock He set my feet on which saved my life.

³ He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD.

(I saw my future). I thought how great it would be one day if I tell others how I overcame cocaine addiction. How wonderful would it be I tell others how powerful prayers are when offered up in faith? I thought how remarkable it would be if all of us would put our trust in God. I saw then what I have been doing for the last 10 years!

My intention was to read all of Psalm 40 but I stopped at verse 3 because I new in that moment that God is real. Perhaps the prayer 2 months prior to that did not convince me or all the other factors in this journey did not convince because I was a true believer of “coincidence.”  Of course I would be. I did not know God exists. Someone once told me that a coincidence is something like wearing the same pair of jeans but something that touches us to the very core of our soul is divine intervention. The appetite I had for cocaine was replaced with a passion to know the God I grew up with in the Greek Orthodox Church. In that moment I shut the Bible and closed my eyes and accepted Christ into my heart. In that moment I knew that I wanted to live my life according to scripture and Jesus’ teachings. No one at TLC brainwashed me, no one was humming weird chants or boiling pots like wizards or witches do in movies trying to inflict curses on me. My gosh! These other men were just as broken as I was, they also needed a Savior! If anything “weird” was truly happening I DON”T CARE HOW FAR AWAY I WAS I WOULD HAVE RAN!!!!! Those of you, who know me, KNOW ME!!! I don’t play games. But no, my experience happened when I was all alone in the dorm by myself, just me, the Bible, and God. The old “me” was on his way out and the new “me” was on his way in and the healing process of covering up that pit of destruction was beginning.